Overview

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Starting with the installation of 11 bicycle and pedestrian counters by Cycling Scotland’s National Monitoring Framework (NMF) in a number of counties predominantly in west, central Scotland, from June 2017 and through to Aug 2020, when the 63rd counter was installed in Fort William in the Highlands, and a further three in Edinburgh in Jun and Jul 2021. The snapshots now also include data from more dense networks of council-managed counters and some points along the John Muir Way.

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Cyclists – Total Count by Month & Year, All Bicycle Counters

Pedestrians – Total Count by Month & Year, NMF Counters

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Counter Data Summaries

NMF Counters

Total count per year
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 total
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 121,410 334,577 1,079,064 2,061,402 1,488,903 5,085,356
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 321,198 910,552 3,711,360 7,784,947 8,285,767 21,013,824
Average daily count across counters
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 48 41 60 96 98
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 221 183 293 506 748
Average daily count, overall
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 26 38 123 235 227
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 68 104 424 886 1265
Average hourly count
traffic mode 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National Monitoring Framework (CS) bicycle 0.5 0.4 0.6 1 1
National Monitoring Framework (CS) pedestrian 2.3 1.9 3 5.3 7.8

 
Focusing on the NMF counters, at end Sep 2021 over 5m bikes and 21m pedestrians had been recorded going past all counters. Average count per day dropped in 2018 for both types of counters before starting to rise again. Looking at counts overall, cycling peaked in May 2020, two months after the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, then continued to drop after plateauing over the summer. Despite further restrictions in 2021 cycling dropped overall. Walking, overall, however continued to rise in 2021. But even this started to decrease in April, and by June had dropped below the same month in 2020. However, both cycling and walking started to rise again in Jul 2021, both over the 2020 figures, but then fell again in Aug, rising only slightly in Sep.

The data now also includes council-managed counters. However, the much larger number of counters and denser network in the two largest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, skew the data, especially when looking at totals. We therefore compare data across location and time using predominantly average counts.

 

Council Counters & the John Muir Way

Total count per year
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021 total
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 11,686,881 12,036,787 12,487,914 10,639,651 46,851,233
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 46,603 90,008 236,291 105,841 478,743
Glasgow City Council bicycle 3,032,075 3,803,975 2,448,636 2,192,131 11,476,817
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
47,529 37,142 39,313 123,984
Stirling Council bicycle
639,243 743,521 817,582 2,200,346
John Muir Way bicycle
33,383 83,799 117,182
Perth and Kinross Council bicycle
132,657 132,657
Average daily count across counters
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 967 752 601 715
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 60 25 65 43
Glasgow City Council bicycle 306 261 156 143
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
16 13 22
Stirling Council bicycle
85 88 124
John Muir Way bicycle
48 61
Perth and Kinross Council bicycle
36
Average daily count, overall
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 1334 1378 1422 1699
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 7 10 27 18
Glasgow City Council bicycle 346 454 279 340
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
5 4 6
Stirling Council bicycle
73 85 125
John Muir Way bicycle
10 13
Perth and Kinross Council bicycle
77
Average hourly count
traffic mode 2018 2019 2020 2021
City of Edinburgh Council bicycle 40.3 31.3 25.1 29.8
East Dunbartonshire Council bicycle 2.5 1 2.7 1.8
Glasgow City Council bicycle 12.8 10.9 6.5 5.9
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar bicycle
0.4 0.3 0.5
Stirling Council bicycle
3.5 3.7 5.2
John Muir Way bicycle
2 2.6
Perth and Kinross Council bicycle
1.5

Counter Locations

All counters – NMF and council-managed, showing installation dates and count per location. It should be noted that there is some delay between counter installation and the point from which data is recorded. Counters that came online within the last month or two may therefore not have any data reported in charts shown. Occasionally, also, a counter may go out of action temporarily and sometimes for significant periods of time.